February 02, 2010

The GOP vs. the Military
Posted by Adam Blickstein

Last year when President Obama was methodically deciding on the best
strategic course of action in Afghanistan, the media and GOP painted it
as an Obama vs. the military dynamic. This false assertion hid the fact
that the GOP spent nearly all of 2009 playing politics with national
security, and was pretty consistent in not supporting the men and women
of the military: two filibuster attempts on Defense spending bills;
attempts to block funding for military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan;
and senatorial holds on spending for Veteran's benefits. In 2010, this
pattern of the Republican Party vs. the military continues:

...Obama
has spent a year following the guidance of military leaders, and
Republicans have spent a year breaking with the judgment of the
military establishment.

It's a fascinating dynamic. On
everything from civilian trials to Gitmo to torture, we have two
distinct groups -- GOP leaders, the Cheneys, Limbaugh, and conservative
activists on one side; President Obama, Gen. Petraeus, Secretary Gates,
Colin Powell, Adm. Mullen, Adm. Blair, and Gen. Jones on the
other....McConnell and his Republicans cohorts are reluctant to admit
it, and political insiders have been slow to acknowledge it, but what
we're witnessing is exceedingly rare -- the Republican establishment
openly rejecting the judgment of the military establishment.On terror
trials and detainee policy, it's consistently been the GOP vs. the
military.

In fact, Mitch McConnell's rationale for this opposition
boils down to "I simply disagree and so do the American people." Well
today's announcement for a review and eventual repeal of
Don't Ask Don't Tell, we find another instance where the majority of
the GOP will stand in opposition to the military.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen: “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by
the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and
women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow
citizens...[It is my personal and professional belief that] “allowing homosexuals to serve openly would be the right thing to do.”

General John
Shalikashvili, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, released a
statement yesterday through the office of Senator Gillibrand saying:
“Don't ask, don't tell" was seen as a useful measure that allowed time
to pass while our culture continued to evolve. The question before us
now is whether enough time has gone by to give this policy serious
reconsideration. I believe that it has.”

Colin Powell former Chairman
JCOS and former Republican Secretary of State has said that the policy
should be reviewed.

51 Retired Generals and Admirals and former
Army Secretary: Repeal don’t ask, don’t tell. In a letter to Congress,
52 military leaders recommended that Congress repeal DADT: “We
respectfully urge Congress to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell"
policy. Those of us signing this letter have dedicated our lives to
defending the rights of our citizens to believe whatever they wish.”

But it's not just current and former military leaders who want to see DADT rolled back, it's also the American people as well as the rank and file in the military who stand in opposition to archaic attitudes of the GOP:

Seventy-five percent of Americans support gays serving openly - up from just 44 percent in 1993 (ABC News/Washington Post, 2008).

73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays

The younger generations, those who fight America's 21st century
wars, largely don't care about whether someone is gay or not-and they
do not link job performance with sexual orientation.

One in four U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan or Iraq knows a member of their unit who is gay

If Sen. McConnell were to make the same rationale for opposing the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell as he made for opposing civilian terror trials, it would read a bit shorter: "I simply disagree and so do the American people." And "I simply disagree" is exactly where the GOP stands, without any policy rationale, on this and nearly every other issue area, even when the men, women and military leaders who defend our nation stand in opposition.

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Hi,
There are obvious cultural affinities between the military and the Republicans' traditional image as the party of manly discipline, as opposed to the Democrats' traditional image as the party of maternal indulgence. The military is a naturally conservative constituency, and it's one that votes...

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